How much was Shakespeare’s play Hamlet influenced by the real-life death of his son Hamnet? That is what this moving and superbly acted film tries to address, and it has been one of the critical and box office hits of 2026. Based on a bestselling book by Maggie O’Farrell and also turned into a play by the RSC, the film adaptation was directed by Chloé Zhao and stars Jessie Buckley as Agnes Shakespeare (more commonly known as Anne Hathaway), while Paul Mescal plays William and Noah Jupe is Hamnet.

The book and indeed the film are an imaginative reinterpretation; Agnes is portrayed as a ‘witchy’ woman of the forest, and William as a striving writer, who is forced to leave his young family to make his mark in London. His success enables them to move up in the world, but means that Agnes has to cope with loneliness and tragedy. The acting throughout is superb. Buckley quite rightly won a BAFTA for her performance as Agnes, bringing a depth of emotion and heartbreak to the role.

In the Guardian, Peter Bradshaw gave it a five star review: “This film succeeds, not because it solves the mystery, but because it deepens it still further. It is contrived and speculative, but ingenious and impassioned at the same time. There is such terrific daring in Zhao and O’Farrell’s stretch: a thrilling act of creative audacity, reaching back through the centuries to embrace Shakespeare and Agnes as human beings.”